You are here

The ODODU Language

Ododu is a derivational language that is continually evolving towards the goal of a universal language. It is based on the assumption that the universe is comprised of conscious entities, like you and I, which communicate and interact with each other using many different languages, each of which is a partial reflection of an optimal universal language. It is further assumed that the most fundamental concept in the universe, and the conscious entities and languages that comprise it, is the concept of relation. This very general view of relation will be used to pragmatically build Ododu as a language that will continually change through its use as it steadily approaches the goal of a universal language.

Ododu will use the letters of the Roman alphabet and the digits 0, 1, 2, and 3. There will be eight vowels designated by the letters U, I, E, A, O, Q, Y, and H. The 16 letters, D, P, R, B, C, L, T, K, S, G, F, X, N, M, W, and Z, will be designated as consonants. V and J will not be used as integral elements of Ododu but will serve as variables. Unless specified otherwise V will denote a vowel and J will denote a consonant. Vowels will be derived as relational constructs while consonants will signify universal and archetypal concepts.

All words will begin and end with vowels that will specify the grammar and syntax of Ododu. The meaning of the words will be determined by the interior consonants and vowels. These will be called the core of the word. The sequence of letters in cores will alternate between consonants and vowels so that no consonant follows another consonant and no core vowel follows another core vowel.

Ododu will also contain a convention for using local, non universal and non archetypal concepts as names. Names can be represented and used within the Ododu grammatical structure or they can be used as themselves in cases where their identity as names and their usage within the grammar are obvious and not ambiguous.

Ododu will evolve through a pragmatic process. As new information, experience, and observations emerge pertaining to the derivational argument for any given word, the meaning of that word may change as a result of this new information. When this occurs it may influence the meaning of some or all of the other words in the lexicon. Thus Ododu will be continually changing as its lexicon changes but it will always stay internally consistent within that lexicon as it exists at any given time.

Finally Ododu will contain numbers and mathematics as fundamental components of language. Mathematics will be viewed as integral to language and as evolving from the same creative process that generates language. It cannot stand as a separate discipline or field of study but only exists within, and as a part of, language itself.

Each letter in Ododu will be assigned a fundamental archetypal meaning, a morpheme, that will be derived to the maximal extent possible from a symbolic form, a grapheme, which illustrates this meaning and how it might have evolved from the relational nature of the universe. Each letter will also be associated with a unique phoneme that governs how it is pronounced and incorporated into a phonetic spoken language.

There are several different ways of presenting Ododu and I will offer two of them here. Both will begin by using the four fundamental types of relation, self relation, linear relation, relational relation, and interrelational relation (see Relational Systems), as the first four Primary Vowels. The simplest presentation is presented as follows.

Exemplify the first four Primary Vowels as:

Exemplify the next four Secondary Vowels as:

In these choices the graphemes assigned to the vowel letter symbols actually do illustrate the relational nature of their respective morphemes. This is described in more detail in The Derivation of Archetypal Meaning in Ododu.

The sixteen consonants are then derived from an interaction between a Primary and a Secondary Vowel. They can be represented diagrammatically as:

Thus the consonant D derives from an interaction between U and O.

The second presentation of Ododu again begins by using the four fundamental types of relation, self relation, linear relation, relational relation, and interrelational relation, as the first four Primary Vowel letter/concepts in Ododu. This approach is as follows:

These first four vowels describe the relational or space-time framework of the universe from my personal perspective. Now introduce the concept of distinction and consider the rest of the universe external to myself. I can describe this external universe in terms of the next four Secondary Vowel letter/concepts as:

These last four vowels describe the relational or space-time framework of the universe from an external perspective. Thus the vowels can be viewed as describing a four dimensional personal space and a four dimensional external space, or who I am and how I view and interact with the rest of the universe.

These two sets of vowels are used to construct the consonants. This is done in a manner similar to how events are described in general relativity theory. Here the description of a space-time point as seen from two distinct reference frames in relative motion with respect to each other is expressed in terms of 16 relations or transformation functions. These relate how each one of the four dimensional descriptors in one frame change with respect to changes in each one of the four dimensional descriptors in the other frame. The same procedure is used to generate 16 consonants from the four primary vowels representing my (the observer's) perspective relative to the four secondary vowels representing your (the observed) perspective. (See The Theoretical Foundations of Ododu for a more detailed explanation.)

This can again be represented diagrammatically as:

At this point all human experience is generalized into 16 archetypal concepts which are assigned to the 16 consonants defined above. The generalizations and assignments seem arbitrary at first but since they are embedded within an experiential pragmatic methodology they will gradually change as a function of usage as they evolve towards towards the Universal Language. (See A Pragmatic Process for the Evolution of ODODU for more discussion.)

The completed alphabet, an illustration as to what each letter might mean as a morpheme when it is used in word construction, and a phoneme or guide to pronunciation, are presented below.

Given the preceding derived and defined alphabet a procedure has been developed to use the alphabet to construct words. This procedure is based on the fact that the vowels have been constructed as relational concepts whereas the consonants have been constructed as universal archetypal concepts representing our experience with the universe. The vowels will be used to begin and end each word and these beginning and ending vowels will specify a grammar. Thus the grammar will consist of 64 uniquely determined pairs of the eight vowels of ODODU as follows:

UU

UI

UE

UA

UO

UQ

UY

UH

IU

II

IE

IA

IO

IQ

IY

IH

EU

EI

EE

EA

EO

EQ

EY

EH

AU

AI

AE

AA

AO

AQ

AY

AH

OU

OI

OE

OA

OO

OQ

OY

OH

QU

QI

QE

QA

QO

QQ

QY

QH

YU

YI

YE

YA

YO

YQ

YY

YH

HU

HI

HE

HA

HO

HQ

HY

HH

These 64 two vowel pairs will form the grammatical words of ODODU. We can represent these 64 words with the symbol VV where each V stands for any one of the eight vowels. In the first sections of the dictionaries words will be constructed by placing a consonant between the two vowels of the grammatical words. This can be represented as VJV where the two Vs stand for vowels and the J can be any one of the 16 consonants. The first vowel will determine the part of speech, noun, verb, modifier, etc. of the word. The last vowel determines how the word is used in a sentence. The meaning of the word is determined by the interior consonant, J, which is defined as the core of the word. In the future additional cores will be constructed by alternating consonants and vowels so that cores with only one letter will represent the most general concepts while cores with increasing numbers of letters will represent increasingly specific and detailed concepts. This process can be codified with a number of general rules as follows:

All words begin and end with vowels.

All consonants are preceded and followed by vowels.

The lead vowel in a word specifies the part of speech which the word is.

The middle consonants and vowels indicate the meaning or idea of the word. This is defined as the core of the word. The meaning of the core is derived from the meaning of its core consonants and vowels.

The last vowel specifies how the word is to be used in a dialogue or communication.

The first vowel followed by a consonant classifies the word as follows:

U noun

I active verb

E modifier, adjective or adverb

A relational, pronoun, connective, preposition, etc.

O noun representing idea or form

Q progressive verb, form ending in ing

Y number

H interrelational or mathematical

The last vowel indicates how the word is used as follows.

UU noun used as a subject

UI noun used as a direct object

UE noun used as an indirect object

UA noun used to indicate possession or qualification

UO plural noun used as a subject

UQ plural noun used as a direct object

UY plural noun used as an indirect object

UH plural noun used to indicate possession or qualification

IU infinitive verb, to be

II present verb, is

IE past verb, was

IA future verb, will be

IO perfect infinitive verb, to have been

IQ present perfect verb, have been

IY past perfect verb, has or had been

IH future perfect verb, will have been

EU adjective modifying noun or pronoun used as subject

EI adjective modifying noun or pronoun used as object

EE adjective modifying noun or pronoun used as indirect object

EA adjective modifying noun or pronoun used as possessive

EO adverb, modifying adjective

EQ adverb modifying verb

EY adverb modifying other adverb

EH adverb modifying relational word

AU singular perspective

AI singular connective

AE singular directive

AA singular integrative

AO plural perspective

AQ plural connective

AY plural directive

AH plural integrative

OU idea used as a subject

OI idea used as a direct object

OE idea used as an indirect object

OA idea used to indicate possession or qualification

OO plural of idea used as a subject

OQ plural of idea used as a direct object

OY plural of idea used as an indirect object

OH plural of idea used to indicate possession or qualification

QU progressive infinitive verb, to be being

QI present progressive verb, is being

QE past progressive verb, was being

QA future progressive verb, will be being

QO progressive perfect infinitive verb, to have been being

QQ present progressive perfect verb, have been being

QY past progressive perfect verb, has or had been being

QH future progressive perfect verb, will have been being

YU integer

YI rational number, fraction

YE real number, representable with exponents, logarithms,

YA complex number

YO number that uses zero as placeholder

YQ negative number

YY number expressed in base point notation with zero

YH number that is a matrix or spinor

HU abstract or mathematical concept used as a subject

HI abstract or mathematical concept used as a direct object

HE abstract or mathematical concept used as an indirect object

HA abstract or mathematical concept used to indicate possession or qualification

HO plural of abstract or mathematical concept used as a subject

HQ plural of abstract or mathematical concept used as a direct object

HY plural of abstract or mathematical concept used as an indirect object

HH plural of abstract or mathematical concept used to indicate possession or qualification

Words can now be constructed by combining meaning, as specified by cores consisting of one consonant or combinations of consonants and vowels, with grammatical and syntatical usage which is specified by the beginning and ending vowels of the word. All of these meanings and usages will be derived from the relational nature of the ideas and concepts which the letters represent.

To illustrate how the consonants are incorporated into the grammar The Grammar Dictionary contains all possible three letter (one consonant) words beginning with the vowels U, I, E, A, O, and Q and ending with any of the eight vowels U, I, E, A, O, Q, Y, and H. These words all have the VJV format. Words beginning with Y and H will be included in The Grammar Dictionary with U endings only as they either follow their own criteria, as is the case for numbers, or they will follow the conventions for nouns as is the case for mathematical words. Both will be discussed in detail in the mathematical section. To illustrate the expanded grammar and how it combines with the 16 consonants all of the VJU words are presented below. Note that only the three letter one consonant words ending in U are presented here. The rest of the VJV words are listed in The Grammar Dictionary.

First the nouns, words beginning with the letter U. These words have a UJU format:

UDU consciousness

UPU will, desire

URU emotion, feeling

UBU decision, choice, belief

UCU body

ULU action

UTU sensation

UKU creation

USU sign, word, symbol

UGU derivation, meaning

UFU image

UXU thought, idea

UNU thing, system, perspective, particle

UMU interaction

UWU property, characteristic

UZU covarinace, connection

The infinitive verb forms (format IJU) and their meanings for the sixteen consonants are:

IDU to be

IPU to want, to will

IRU to feel, to love

IBU to choose

ICU to have, to exist physically, to be physically

ILU to do

ITU to sense

IKU to create, to make

ISU to speak, to name, to mark

IGU to derive

IFU to show, to reflect, to image

IXU to think

INU to place, to locate

IMU to go, to interact, to force, to push or pull

IWU to recognize, to characterize, to identify

IZU to connect, to communicate covariantly

The modifiers begin with the letter E and follow the EJV format. If the ending vowels are U, I, E, or A then the word is an adjective (modifies nouns or pronouns). If the ending vowels are O, Q, Y, or H then the word is an adverb (modifies a different adjective or a verb, other adverb or a relational). The U endings indicating adjectives are shown here. A more detailed listing of the different forms of adjectives and adverbs can be found in The Grammar Dictionary.

Numbers will be technically derived in a later mathematics section. The counting numbers or positive integers (words beginning with Y and ending with U, YJU format) are listed here. Note that the "first" number is a period and this stands for a basis point that specifies what kind of natural number system is being used. For example base ten is the system that is most commonly used but in Ododu base four and base sixteen systems are used most frequently.

The conceptually abstract or mathematical words which begin with H and end with U, HJU format, are:

HDU point

HPU line

HRU surface

HBU space, volume

HCU set

HLU equivalence relation

HTU redundancy

HKU combination/cancelation

HSU set of relations

HGU relational cross

HFU relational mark

HXU relational combination/cancelation

HNU element of a set

HMU association

HWU intersection

HZU union

Any word which begins or ends with a consonant is a name. Names are not derived as are ODODU words. Instead they are locally defined and hence their meaning is arbitrarily assigned. This meaning cannot be derived from the archetypal meanings of the names’ constituent letters. Any word containing a "v" or "j" is also a name as are words containing two or more consecutive consonants or two or more consecutive interior vowels.

All names are assumed to be nouns, either used as subjects in a sentence, or as identifiers in lists, titles, signage, or other uses not dependent on a grammar for understanding or interpretation. However, there are many times when it is desirable to use a name in a Ododu grammatical context. To do this begin the word with Y followed by the classifying vowel for noun, verb, modifier, etc.. Then insert the name and end the word with the final vowel that specifies usage (subject, tense, etc.). For example to use the English word "table" as a real noun serving as the subject of a sentence in Ododu you would write "yutableu".

The ability to use any word from any language within the ODODU grammar as a name allows for the inclusion of all the other languages within the ODODU paradigm.

The presentation of ODODU will be continued by using the grammar to create words for the initial eight concepts represented by the eight vowels. This entails creating a new category of three letter words for words containing only vowels. Because of the uniqueness of the relational concepts, no all vowel word having more than three letters will be recognized as meaningful in ODODU. The three vowel words can be represented as VVV where any of the Vs can be any of the eight defined vowels. This contrasts with the VJV format used so far in which the first and last V are vowels but the center letter J is a consonant. As was the case for the VJV words, the first and last V in a VVV word specifies the part of speech and how it would be used in a sentence as presented in the grammar. The middle vowel will be the foundational concept as it was initially defined. Thus a foundational relational concept signified by a vowel could be used as a noun serving as a subject of a sentence by using;

UUU self relation

UIU linear relation

UEU relational relation

UAU interrelational relation

UOU distinction

UQU cross

UYU name, mark

UHU operation, interaction, interrelation

The IVU format verb forms are:

IUU to self relate

IIU to linearly relate

IEU to relationally relate

IAU to interrelationally relate

IOU to make a distinction

IQU to cross

IYU to name, to mark

IHU to operationally interact

The EVU format adjectives are:

EUU self relational

EIU linear relational

EEU relational relational

EAU interrelational relational

EOU distinguished, bounded

EQU crossed

EYU named, marked

EHU operational, interrelational

The AVU format relational forms are used to include some of the most universally expressed concepts in language into single sound, single letter words. These words will be used as the single vowel letters but their formal definition will be as follows:

While most of the grammatical forms of these words follows closely with what has been done previously with the consonant cores special note should be made for the following definitions concerning numbers and abstract concepts, words beginning with Y and H. The YVU words (numbers) are;

Consistent with the concept that the four fold relational nature of the universe should be fundamental to any language describing that universe, ODODU considers all core concepts to be four dimensional. Thus each core concept itself is viewed as having four relational components or characteristics. For example, the word UDU, which means consciousness, can be viewed as embodying the concepts of existence, experience, memory and life. These are then viewed as relational characteristics or manifestations of consciousness and so are defined as extensions or dimensions of the core concept of consciousness.

These relational manifestations are incorporated into ODODU by adding a vowel to the one consonant J core, thereby generating four new cores of consonant-vowel, JV, form. However, this core expansion is restricted to adding only one of the vowels U, I, E, or A, to a consonant core J. Each of these four new expansion or dimensional cores illustrates some aspect of the original one consonant core. The new consonant-vowel, JV (where V can only be one of U, I, E, or A), core can then be inserted into the two vowel grammatical words in the same manner as was used to create the one consonant core words. This generates a new class of VJVV format words. It is important to stress that in a VJVV format the first and last vowel can be any of the eight vowels U, I, E, A, O, Q, Y, or H while the interior vowel following the consonant can only be one of the letters U, I, E, or A. For the consciousness example just discussed they can be presented as;

A complete listing of all of the one consonant, one consonant-one vowel, and one vowel cores is contained in the The Core Concept Dictionary for all three and four letter words beginning with U, I, E, A, O, and Q and ending with the vowel U. As cores with two consonants and one or two vowels are derived they will be added to this dictionary.

This page and its related links completes the presentation of ODODU as I understand it, and as this understanding exists today. It will continue to change and evolve and as it does those changes will be documented in this site.